3 Insights from Global Living by Mandy B.

I’ve lived in Waco, and I’ve lived in Germany. I’ve lived in Colorado and in Nashville and in Scotland. I’ve been in public school and private school and school in a language other than English. I’ve lived in places where I was the most liberal person I knew and places where I was the most conservative person I knew.

If I could invite a smattering of people from different stages in my life to a dinner party, it would be movie material, a perfect storm of cultures and backgrounds and opinions. But wherever I’ve lived, people are still people. Here are some things that hold true no matter where you live.

Brunch in Colorado by Mandy B.

Over New Year’s, I was fortunate enough to be able to travel back to Colorado, where I lived before Waco. Despite having a poor Mexican food selection, Colorado is a great place for foodies, and one of my favourite things to do is to circle back to my old eateries that I used to frequent there.

This visit, I was re-awakened through two new restaurants to one of the meals Colorado does best — brunch.

Top 5 Albums of 2012 by Mandy B.

During college, I was up on all of the new music. The collaborative environment of a dorm made my musical tastes and exposures explode, and I was continually discovering new music.

After college, I went through a bit of a lull. I moved, had less free time, and my new friends didn’t share my tastes. It took me a while to get back into the swing of exploring new musicians and making time to listen to an entire album from start to end, not just putting some old favourites on “Genius.” 2012 has been a year of beautiful music. I’ve even pulled out my guitar a few times and learned a few of these new tunes. I hope you’ll enjoy them as well.

#5 – Worth Fighting For by Act of Congress

Act of Congress was a breath of fresh air when I discovered them through a free NoiseTrade download. They were the closest sound I’d ever heard to my beloved Nickel Creek newgrass, and their rendition of “Such Great Heights” simply blew me away. Their sound still has some work to do, with need for a little more cohesion on the next album, but I look forward greatly to seeing where this young band will go.

Song picks: One Will Break, Call Your Bluff, Time, Carry Me

#4 – Babel by Mumford & Sons

I hate to include this merely on principal as I know it will top many other “Best of” lists this year. This album created such waves in my social media world when it came out from such a diverse group of people that I knew I had to buy it. I was a little late to the Mumford & Sons bandwagon, but discovered that I already knew and enjoyed many of the songs from their first album and was not at all disappointed by their sophomore efforts. Yes, I love banjoes and the mandolin and am not ashamed of it.

Song picks: I Will Wait, Babel, The Boxer, Where Are You Now

#3 – My Head is an Animal by Of Monsters & Men

If anything, you’ve probably heard this band’s “Little Talks” song on the radio. This group’s European roots attracted me (originating from Iceland), but their melodic alternative sound and beautiful album arrangement earned their place on this list.

Song picks: Mountain Sound, Little Talks, Dirty Paw

#2 – Some Nights by Fun

If you’ve only listened to rock anthems “We Are Young” or “Some Nights,” then you’re missing out on the fullness of this signature album. Years ago, I used to listen to The Format and Steel Train, both middle-of-the road bands who, it seems, just needed to team up to make magic and top hits happen. The new sound reminds me of Queen and makes me want to sing and dance in my kitchen.

Song picks: Some Nights, We Are Young, Carry On, All Alone

#1 – Bear Creek by Brandi Carlile

I’ve spent a year-long love affair with this album. so I didn’t even have to think twice when making my top pick for album of the year. There is a solidarity and raw strength in Brandi’s voice– a soloist if I ever heard one. She’s a lovely blend of folk-rock and Americana, the perfect road-trip accompaniment.

Song picks: Hard Way Home, In the Morrow, Keep Your Heart Young, A Promise to Keep

Honorable Mentions

Cedar + Gold by Tristan Prettyman. After Miss Tristan announced her retirement from singing a few years ago to follow her other talents, including modelling and surfing, I didn’t think I would see another album from her. But she’s back. This is a breakaway from Tristan’s traditionally acoustic style with more of a pop/rock vibe, but still doesn’t disappoint.

First Fruits – EP by Judah & the Lion. If you love Mumford & Sons and all kinds of stringed instruments, check out this new band out of Belmont University!

Open Your Doors by Jenny & Tyler. A beautiful, harmonious follow-up to several established albums from this acoustic duo. A recurring guest at Common Grounds in Waco.

Former Lives by Ben Gibbard. First full-length solo album by the frontsman of The Postal Service and Death Cab for Cutie. Sadly recently divorced from Zooey Deschanel.

What We Saw from the Cheap Seats by Regina Spektor. Nothing groundbreaking, but more of the same stellar songwriting from my favourite Russian songstress.

Feeding 33,000 Waco Families in One Year by Mandy B.

In the summer of 2011, I joined a group of China Spring students in distributing food to needy Waco families early on a Saturday morning. When we arrived at the location on 34^th St. and Bosque, a semi-truck from the Capital Area Food Bank in Austin was being unloaded with crates and crates of food. A long line was already in place as one group of volunteers arranged fruit, pasta, juice, and other goods onto tables. A second group of volunteers went through the line and loaded up one of each item into a shopping cart, then was paired with a family to go load the cartful of food into their car. The distribution went on for hours.

That food pantry was The Shepherd’s Heart, a non-profit located in the heart of Waco. Although I didn’t know it at the time, Shepherd’s Heart was just in its infancy as an organization, founded only in mid-2010. In its first few months in 2010, Shepherd’s Heart fed 5,900 families. In 2011, this grew to 24,550. In 2012, Shepherd’s Heart expects to feed an astounding 33,000 families. The week before Thanksgiving alone, they served 830 families.

Missy Balusek & A Self-Publishing Adventure by Mandy B.

Photo by Cyndi Wheeler

Walking into the Balusek house, I step straight into a scene from Rat’s Tale. As “Mommy” Missy Balusek offers me a water bottle and shows me to a sofa, her fair-haired son Blake lowers his eyes shyly and leads a toy train in circles around the floor.

“Blake, do you know where Rat is?” asks Balusek.

“No,” he murmurs, engrossed in the train’s trajectory.

“Blake, please?”

Brief family negotiations ensue, but within a few minutes I am in the company of the three real-life counterparts of the main characters of Waco children’s book Rat’s Tale: A Story About a Mouse Named Rat.

Turning the Art Model Upside Down by Mandy B.

For centuries, art has had the same gatekeepers: galleries, curators, art programs. If you don’t feel you fit in this world, then it’s historically been difficult to explore and become an aficionado of art. If you don’t have a few hundred or a few thousand dollars to purchase art, then it’s difficult to become a collector. Here are three online companies that are attempting to turn the traditional art discovery model upside-down:

Artsicle

I first read about Artsicle in Entrepreneur magazine and was instantly intrigued. There are myriad recommendation engines for music (Pandora, iTunes), for movies (Netflix), for recipes (Mor.sl), and for books (Goodreads), so why not have one for art? This website attempts to do just that, by having each user pick a series of images via its Discovery Game upon joining, and uses the results to create a profile and recommend art to the user. Artists join Artsicle to gain more exposure for their work.

But then it goes a step further– for as little as $25  month (and ranging up to $65 or so, depending on the piece), you can rent Artsicle works that catch your eye to hang up in your home or workplace. They ship it to you, you hang it up, you send it back in a prepaid shipping container they send you. If you like the piece, you can also buy it. My favourite feature? A “Pin It” button on their browsing site so you can instantly share pieces that move you.

TurningArt

I was clued off to this site on Twitter not long ago. TurningArt has a similar “Try it before you buy it” business model, minus the recommendation algorithm. However, you can browse art by category, region, and media in their impressive collection of paintings, prints, and photography. TurningArt has some original art, but is mostly based on prints. You can browse art by category, region, and media. They will send you up to three prints at one time along with a one-size-fits-all frame, for just $20 a month. If you like the piece, your rental credit goes toward the purchase. And yes, TurningArt also has a “Pin It” button.

Art.sy

I will admit that I’m still waiting for my invitation to come through from Art.sy, so I haven’t been able to explore this site to its fullest potential yet. Art.sy is a self-professed “Art Genome,” linking together a network of thousands of artists across the globe and categorizing them by subject matter, region, medium, movement, and contemporary. My favourite part about this site is that it includes the  dead guys, old masters such as Degas and Monet. So if you’re an art newbie and want to know what the fuss is about with Picasso, you can look him up on here. There’s no rental option here, but purchase information and a phenomenal reference for someone who wants to learn more about and discover new art. The disappointing part? Pinterest is blocked.

Voices from the Past by Mandy B.

Have you every heard of Baylor University’s Institute of Oral History? I had heard interview clips from the institute’s archives on the local radio, but it wasn’t until last week that I was able to delve into the historical gems of the free digital archives. Over the past few decades, Baylor University staff and students have interviewed locals about the area and have digitized primary source documents on a variety of topics and opened the records up to the public.

I’m not a Waco native, but the voices of older generations of Wacoans sharing about their lives in an era that will soon be  faded to history pulls at me as if it were my own grandmother’s voice. 

Cot 'n' Coffee by Mandy B.

I’m back! After a little hiatus, I am happy to be back and blogging for Bohemia.

This past weekend, I had the privilege of accompanying several friends to their family’s bed and breakfast in Round Top, Texas. Unlike most of my out-of-town trips, I only had a vague idea of where we were headed and what to expect when we got there. The result was very refreshing.

If you have never experienced staying at a B&B, I highly recommend that you do so for your next weekend getaway. Ever since I was a little girl in Dundee, Scotland, I have loved B&B’s. There was one called Tony’s just down the street from our house, and my grandparents would stay there when the came to visit. I would get to sleep over sometimes, and Tony himself would make the biggest British breakfast you’ve ever seen in the morning.

Last May, I had the privilege of introducing my husband Ross to the B&B experience. We stayed at a Victorian B&B in the historic district of San Antonio called Alamo Street Victorian Inn. We enjoyed chatting with the manager and the other guests over breakfast, and playing board games in some of the common rooms during our down time.

A souvenir from Alamo Street Victorian Inn in San Antonio– now one of my favourite mugs.

Cot ‘n’ Coffee by Mandy B.

I’m back! After a little hiatus, I am happy to be back and blogging for Bohemia.

This past weekend, I had the privilege of accompanying several friends to their family’s bed and breakfast in Round Top, Texas. Unlike most of my out-of-town trips, I only had a vague idea of where we were headed and what to expect when we got there. The result was very refreshing.

Call for Submissions by Mandy B.

It’s hard to believe that it’s only a month until the submissions deadline for the October issue! We’re looking for poems, short stories, and visual art and photography to bring our issue to life. The theme for October is fairy tales, ghost stories, and childhood, so ruminate on stories that used to tickle your imagination for inspiration.

TSTC Publishing Writes Its Final Chapter by Mandy B.

I was sad to hear on KWBU on my way to work this morning that TSTC announced that it will close its publishing division at in August. When I first moved to Waco, I was impressed that such a small school as TSTC had a publishing division, and even enjoyed reading one title by a local author: Bradley Turner’s Lust, Violence, Religion: Life in Historic Waco. In fact, the Waco Tribune-Herald reported today that it was the only two-year college with a publishing house in the country.

The Non-Summer Blues by Mandy B.

Even though today is a rainy outside, we are on the brink of full-blown summer. My grad student friends (husband included) have already reached the finish line, and my teacher friends have the countdown committed to memory. Everyone around me is antsy with anticipation. There’s just one problem—I don’t have a summer.

The Non-Summer Blues by Mandy B.

Even though today is a rainy outside, we are on the brink of full-blown summer. My grad student friends (husband included) have already reached the finish line, and my teacher friends have the countdown committed to memory. Everyone around me is antsy with anticipation. There’s just one problem—I don’t have a summer.

All through my life, I have loved summer. Summer meant beautiful weather. Summer meant travelling and roadtrips. Summer meant visiting family in America. Summer meant swimming and daisy chains. Each year, summer was a time to grow, to meet new people, to go to camp and read lots and lots of books. Now that I work full-time, I don’t have that much-needed break and transition time. What’s a grown-up Bohemian girl to do?

It’s so easy to get caught up in routine of coming straight home from work, making dinner, and losing the rest of the evening online or doing housework. I’m challenging myself and my other summerless readers with some simple ways to make summer a little more—well, Bohemian.

• Go for walks—every day.  Find someplace close to your work where you can walk on your breaks. This will clear your head, relieve stress, and help with your tan. Or, go for a neighbourhood walk in the evening when it’s cooler and you can take your dog.
• Turn off the phone, pick up the book. One of the things I’m trying to get better at is putting away my smartphone and instead reading before I go to bed. For book ideas, click here!
• Eat outside. Put on a little bug spray and take your dinner out to the porch. If you live in an apartment, plan a picnic.
• Go for a day/weekend trip. Even if you’re on a low budget, a little gas money can get you to the lake, the gulf, the hill country, or some good shopping in Austin or Dallas. Get on Hotwire and look for a cheap hotel for a spontaneous getaway. It’ll give you something to look forward to!
• Go retro. What was your favourite thing to do in summer as a kid? Was it a slip ‘n’ slide, eating popsicles, or making friendship bracelets? Retro summer activities make a great date night.
• Make a list of goals.  With no summer or Christmas breaks, it’s hard to know where one year starts and the other one ends. Don’t let the summer pass by without taking some time to consider what you want to accomplish in the next few months or a year. Make a bucket list. Even if you’re not sure how you’ll get there yet, you’ll at least be one step closer.

The Non-Summer Blues by Mandy B.

Even though today is a rainy outside, we are on the brink of full-blown summer. My grad student friends (husband included) have already reached the finish line, and my teacher friends have the countdown committed to memory. Everyone around me is antsy with anticipation. There’s just one problem—I don’t have a summer.

All through my life, I have loved summer. Summer meant beautiful weather. Summer meant travelling and roadtrips. Summer meant visiting family in America. Summer meant swimming and daisy chains. Each year, summer was a time to grow, to meet new people, to go to camp and read lots and lots of books. Now that I work full-time, I don’t have that much-needed break and transition time. What’s a grown-up Bohemian girl to do?

It’s so easy to get caught up in routine of coming straight home from work, making dinner, and losing the rest of the evening online or doing housework. I’m challenging myself and my other summerless readers with some simple ways to make summer a little more—well, Bohemian.

• Go for walks—every day.  Find someplace close to your work where you can walk on your breaks. This will clear your head, relieve stress, and help with your tan. Or, go for a neighbourhood walk in the evening when it’s cooler and you can take your dog.
• Turn off the phone, pick up the book. One of the things I’m trying to get better at is putting away my smartphone and instead reading before I go to bed. For book ideas, click here!
• Eat outside. Put on a little bug spray and take your dinner out to the porch. If you live in an apartment, plan a picnic.
• Go for a day/weekend trip. Even if you’re on a low budget, a little gas money can get you to the lake, the gulf, the hill country, or some good shopping in Austin or Dallas. Get on Hotwire and look for a cheap hotel for a spontaneous getaway. It’ll give you something to look forward to!
• Go retro. What was your favourite thing to do in summer as a kid? Was it a slip ‘n’ slide, eating popsicles, or making friendship bracelets? Retro summer activities make a great date night.
• Make a list of goals.  With no summer or Christmas breaks, it’s hard to know where one year starts and the other one ends. Don’t let the summer pass by without taking some time to consider what you want to accomplish in the next few months or a year. Make a bucket list. Even if you’re not sure how you’ll get there yet, you’ll at least be one step closer.

Revive Waco Tomorrow by Mandy B.

If you don’t have plans tomorrow afternoon, consider checking out a unique music festival event hosted by Art Ambush and University Baptist Church (UBC).

Revive Waco Tomorrow by Mandy B.

If you don’t have plans tomorrow afternoon, consider checking out a unique music festival event hosted by Art Ambush and University Baptist Church (UBC).

Revive Waco Tomorrow by Mandy B.

If you don’t have plans tomorrow afternoon, consider checking out a unique music festival event hosted by Art Ambush and University Baptist Church (UBC).

Brazos Nights is Back by Mandy B.

On my way to work on Thursday (late as usual), I was irked to find University Parks blocked off at Franklin Ave., forcing me to detour around on 4th St.and duck in the back of the building hoping no one would notice me, a few minutes later than normal.

A.E. Stallings: Nothing is More Permanent than the Temporary by Mandy B.

“Love, then, always was a matter of revision / As reality, to poet or to politician, / Is but the first rough draft of history or legend.”

As Baylor University’s Beall Poetry Festival begins on Wednesday of this week, Bohemia took some time to catch up with A.E. Stallings, one of the poets headlining the festival.

Diversity in Dialogue on World Poetry Day by Mandy B.

Poetry contributes to creative diversity, by questioning anew our use of words and things, our modes of perception and understanding of the world. Poetry is also the place where the profound link between cultural diversity and linguistic diversity is forged. The language of poetry, with its sounds, metaphors and grammar, stands as a barrier against the deterioration of the world’s languages and cultures. By exploring the great potential of language, poetic creativity enriches intercultural dialogue, the guarantor of peace. — UNESCO

March 21 is World Poetry Day, a time designated by the U.N. to examine the role poetry plays in intercultural dialogue. As someone who has studied and attempted to write poetry in a foreign language and has studied minority and international literature, I can attest to the power of words in breaking down social and cultural barriers. Poetry can transport us into experiences and stories otherwise inaccessible to the American or Western psyche.

Wrinkle, Wrinkle, Little Star by Mandy B.

“You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.”
― Madeleine L’Engle

It was a dark and stormy night. Thus begins one of my favourite young adult novels, A Wrinkle in Time. The book just celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, its place cemented as a masterpiece in children’s literary canons. Alas, Madeleine L’Engle did not live to see the book’s milestone, but her indelible impression on young imaginations lives on.

The novel’s plot is impeccably odd. Take a family with world-class scientist parents, an awkward eldest girl, twins, and a prodigious 5-year-old boy with a mouthful of a name, and you have the Murry family. Now throw quantum physics, philosophy, time and space travel, and several very quirky characters together, and you have a story.

I have always loved L’Engle’s insight about children being able to understand what grown-ups cannot. Supposedly, the author initially had trouble finding a publisher to take on the book. What is it about L’Engle’s writing that allows children to embrace it so freely? First of all, children aren’t caught up in the logic of the plot. When L’Engle sets up a world with tesseracts and alternate planets, young readers don’t stumble over this, but accept it and focus on the characters’ emotions and development.

She also taps so well into the psyche of childhood. As a girl, I spent lots of time outside where every physical detail—trees, rain, secret hiding places—tugged wildly at my imagination. In my mind, everything was a gateway to a story. L’Engle throws the gate wide open.

As I read and write less than I used to, I wonder if I am too much of a grown-up. Has my ability to perceive the world suffered because of it?

L’Engle examines some weighty spiritual questions in A Wrinkle in Time, with themes of light and dark, good and evil. As with fiction, spirituality can be very difficult for some adults to grasp. The Book of Luke writes, “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” Faith, like fantasy, doesn’t add up logically sometimes.

I’m not a kid up a tree anymore, but I sure do miss the simplicity. It looks like I may have some growing young to do.

Pinterest for Lit Nerds by Mandy B.

Pinterest has been hailed as a playground for the visual– for photography, art, and fashion. However, I’d like to claim a corner of it for literature. If you’re surfing the ‘net late at night, meander your way through several of these boards, or consider starting one of your own:

• Goodreads. If you haven’t been on the website Goodreads, it’s a social book review site that recommends books for  you based on your reading history. Their Pinterest site offer such categories as “Can’t Wait Fiction,” “Can’t Wait Nonfiction,” and “Books Moving and Shaking.” It’s a great way to discover new titles, recommended by Goodreads users numbering in the millions.

Source: goodreads.com via goodreads on Pinterest

• There are many little-known boards curating beautiful book art and typography, if you have the patience to look for them. Take, for instance, Herbie Hickmott’s Book Covers and Typography boards– both aesthetic and thoroughly varied.

• Source: samsonwho.tumblr.com via Herbie on Pinterest

• One author, Jennifer Cruise, is keeping a Pinterest board for the fictional protagonist in her upcoming mystery novel. She’s pinning the character’s apartment, her favourite things, even her panties!

• Source: google.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

• Scholastic Books has a fantastic collection of all things book-related. One can peruse photos of unique bookshelves, bookshops, vintage book covers, and book art. Scholastic even has dedicated boards to young-adult icons such as Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, and The Babysitter’s Club.

Source: contentinacottage.blogspot.com via Scholastic on Pinterest

• The only Pinterest user that tops Scholastic for book boards, in my opinion, is Random House Publishing. Random House’s collection tantalizes a book-lover’s fancy: Literary Tattoos, Literary Weddings, Books that Made Us Cry, Banned Books, and Favourite Book Quotes.

Source: list.co.uk via Mandy on Pinterest

Whether you’re pinning to  your own page or simply looking in from the outside, I encourage you to take a brief look at an ancient art through a modern lens. You never know what you could find, like collection of  typography moustaches.

Source: flickr.com via Mandy on Pinterest

Purge by Mandy B.

My very first blog with Bohemia examined the literature and language of the desert in the midst of a parching drought. As a college student, I came to love this kind of barren beauty. Our creative writing classes would take getaways to a tiny arts community in Southern Colorado called Crestone– a desert mountain community strewn with ashrams where the personalities were as tall as the Sangre de Cristo peaks. I also enjoyed trips with friends to Utah, backpacking away from cell phone service and the humdrum of daily routine. How I wish I could recapture that outlet for creative growth.

To quote Angela from Bones, if you stand still long enough, the desert will speak to you. Here is a poem from those dusty days.

Here

Where owl-men smoke out their wrongs

On ash-strewn evening porches

And flax-haired women pour their aches

Through last night’s broken, dreg-filled bottles

Out into the earth.

And bleed, bleed, deep, drip, drip, deep drops

Into the tongue-wet sunset paint.

Where corrugated, rusted metal

Splices splintered wood,

And children’s, even children’s hair

Grows grey and white and coarse

Here—here—all I feel is

Purge, purge, purge.

How to Make a Solo Espresso by Mandy B.

Yes, I have been called a coffee snob. However, I deny the term. I am not adamant about grinding my own coffee or exactly where my beans come from. I do love a good strong flavour (preferably German), but I am more interested in how the coffee is brewed and enjoyed.

For instance, coffee and drive through should rarely coexist. One thing I miss about France is the café culture, where one could read a book and people watch for hours without being disturbed. When you order un café (a coffee), the waiter will bring you a single espresso with two sugar cubes on the side. Once in Italy, I bought myself a single stovetop espresso dripolator that has been a faithful friend throughout the years.

Most people gawk and ask questions when I pull it out, so I thought I would open up my kitchen and the tutorial for all.

#1 Meet the Solo Espresso Maker

This simple contraption has three parts, the bottom that holds the water, the middle section that holds the coffee grounds, and the top spout. It uses heat to force the water through the coffee grounds and up into the cup.

#2 Add Water

Fill water up to the vent on the side of the bottom. Get your coffee grounds of choice and coffee holder (pictured left) ready.

#3 Add Coffee Grounds

Fill the coffee holder up with your roast of choice (above I chose Swiss Mövenpick brand, medium roast, although I also love German Jacobs) and place it into the bottom piece, filled with water.

#4 Select Espresso Cup

#5 Get Ready to Brew

Screw the top part of the coffee maker onto the two bottom layers, and you’re ready to brew on the stovetop. The espresso cup sits on the shelf directly below the spout.

#6 Turn on the Heat

Set your heat to high, and keep an eye on it as it starts to brew.

#7 Watch the Magic

As the water in the bottom heats, it will be forced up through the coffee, through a filter, and finally up through the spout and into your cup. Once it starts to pour, it will be done very quickly. At this point, immediately remove the espresso cup with an oven mitt or towel. Turn off the heat. Every inch of the espresso maker will be burning hot, so don’t touch it. However, you need to remove it from the heat or the plastic will eventually melt. I usually dip a spoon under the spout to move the whole thing to the sink to cool.

#8 Fixin’s

  Although good coffee calls for no extras, I usually add one sugar and foam a little milk with my super-handy milk foamer to put on top.

#9 Company

Grab an old or new friend to share the coffee with. If you’re lucky, you’ll own a two-cup espresso maker! I am not so fortunate. My only companion this time is the devious little Xena, hoping for a few grains of sugar to be dropped from the counter

I’m back! After a few weeks working with the print side of Bohemia, I am excited to be back to the blog.

Bohemia‘s spring issue (now accepting submissions) is themed around dream worlds and dreamscapes. Literature and dreams are deeply rooted in each other, each relying heavily on images and multiple layers of consciousness to weave a narrative. Take, for instance, Carl Sandberg’s poem:

Dreams in the Dusk by Carl Sandberg

DREAMS in the dusk,
Only dreams closing the day
And with the day’s close going back
To the gray things, the dark things,
The far, deep things of dreamland.

Dreams, only dreams in the dusk,
Only the old remembered pictures
Of lost days when the day’s loss
Wrote in tears the heart’s loss.

Tears and loss and broken dreams
May find your heart at dusk.

In this poem, Sandberg places his dreamscape at dusk. He adorns his dreamscape with colours (gray, dark), tears, and lost days, to draw the reader into his dream. When you think of your dreams, what physical place do you put them in? What object or landscape draws you into your dreamworld every time?

 

Get your poems and prose in to Amanda at amanda@bohemia-journal.com!

Soulful. Thankful. Coming of Age: A Dave Barnes Rendering by Mandy B.

Will I Love You Still?

That is the question crooned hauntingly in Dave Barnes’ hit “I Have and Always Will,” explored and tested against the light of day by Barnes’ latest litany of songs.

A lyrical and a stylistic renewal is in play for singer-songwriter Barnes. Often branded as pop/rock with Motown and reggae influences, 33-year-old Barnes describes his sound as simply “soulful.” “My voice sounds a little grovelly,” the Mississippi native laughs.

A Waco concert regular, Mississippi native Barnes will stop by Common Grounds this Friday, November 11, as one sojourn on his stripped-down acoustic tour touching four Texas cities.

Audibly influenced by the 70s, Barnes looks to Stevie Wonder and Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls for inspiration. From the bluesy beats of “Loving You, Loving Me” and “What I Need (feat. Jonny Lang)” to the acoustic revelry of “On a Night Like This,” Barnes’ sound accomplishes both chants of elation and intimate whispers.

“I wanted to examine, ‘How do you deal with the yin and yang of things?’” said Barnes of his latest album, What We Want, What We Get, which explores the difficult phenomenon of staying in love with someone after initial romance.  “I stumbled upon this theme because it’s closest to me, because it’s one of the only things I have the expertise to write about.”

Barnes’ wife Annie is cast in the starring narrative role in many of his songs, and her influence in his music ranges from cameos in his music videos to background vocals to songwriting guidance.

As the songs show, however, no marriage is all rosy. Each of his lyrics seem to seek to strip away the mask from the upbeat exterior of the songs, leaving a vulnerable and candid core underneath. “Little Lies” and “My Love, My Enemy” on his latest album illustrate the dichotomous nature of intimate committed relationships: “What do you say?\Let’s give up now and just be done\Maybe we’re afraid\Of all that we will and won’t become, Everyday\We come together or come undone\Every time I break \Tell me again how far we’ve come” (“My Love, My Enemy”).

“She doesn’t mind!” insisted Barnes about the honest portrayals of their relationship. “I always pass everything through her. She’s really kind about it.”

Despite some dark and complex undertones, Barnes manages to keep his signature uplifting sound as a constant thread throughout his musical catalogue. “There’s enough [downer music] out there, and I’m not good at writing it,” he admits.

“Happy accidents” have paved the way to Barnes’ renown as a Nashville singer and songwriter, he confesses. Freshly out of college nearly a decade ago, Barnes began to travel and open shows with friend Matt Wertz (another college circuit regular) before headlining shows of his own and being signed.

“When I was in college, I started to sheepishly sing,” he said. Originally setting out to be a songwriter, Barnes didn’t imagine his would be the face gracing an album cover. Earlier this year, his songwriting success returned explosively when country singer Blake Shelton picked up his hit song “God Gave Me You,” catapulting the song to the top of the country charts.

“I never planned for it to go that way,” Barnes said of the cover’s success. “I love it; it’s one of the coolest privileges of this job. My work can be released to 50 million people, and I can cheer from the sidelines.”

With five full-length albums and a Christmas album tucked into his discography, Barnes is no starving artist.  Yet, he doesn’t take any victory for granted.

“I feel very successful… very blessed. I’ve gotten infinitely more success than I ever imagined,” Barnes said. “The opposite of expectations are thankfulness. I have to be really diligent about that balance. Expectations can run amuck, for my life, my marriage, my career, relationships.”

You won’t find Dave Barnes sitting on his laurels. His next album is set to release in March, with the working title Stories to Tell.  Fans should expect a distinctly more poppy sound from the new piece, thanks in part to new producer John Fields (Goo Goo Dolls, Jon McLaughlin, Lifehouse, Switchfoot, Jonas Brothers).

“I know most artists feel this way, but I’m the most excited about this one,” Barnes plugged. “It’s much more of a pop record, so a little bit of a change for me. I’m excited to see what people think.”

In the meantime, he will be trolling around the country sans band, advocating the nonprofit Mocha Club, and nurturing young artists such as Steve Moakler, Ben Rector, Andrew Ripp, and B. Reith.

Friday’s acoustic show will hold “more stories and fun” for the 8^th St. venue. “When it’s just me, I play differently—I engage the crowd differently,” said Barnes. Keep your eye out, Bohemians, there might a sneak peek on the set list for the upcoming album.

11 November · 20:00 – 23:00

Common Grounds, 1123 S 8th St., Waco, Texas

Andrew Ripp Opening
$15 adv
$18 doors
http://commongroundswaco.com/
All Ages

Old Books, New Friends by Mandy B.

I am such a sucker for secondhand books, whether they are borrowed, bought, or found. I can browse shiny covers in a Barnes & Noble and never buy anything, but surround me with musty, eclectic used books, and I can’t leave the store without an armload.

Twice-loved books

There was a secondhand bookstore I loved in downtown Colorado Springs called Poor Richard’s that was connected to a café, pizzeria with an unmatched wine and tisane bar, and old-school toy store. I had several classes held there, and yes, it was the perfect recipe for never leaving the place without a new/old book in hand.

This weekend, the mother of all secondhand book sales is going on in Waco. It’s called Friends of the Waco-McLennan County Library Book Sale. Last year when my husband and I decided to stop by, we didn’t quite know what we were getting ourselves into. We entered a side building of the Extraco Events Center to what we considered a large room of book stands, about the size of a normal community bookstore, with sections set aside for specialty and children’s books. We spent about 10 minutes browsing before passing into THE room, a warehouse-like room about three times the size of the previous one filled from wall to wall with used library books and other donated treasures. Some attendees had showed up with suitcases to fill with books.

We left about two hours later with two large paper sacks. Our total? $19.

The book prices range from $1-$4 and are mainly arranged by genre. It truly is a bibliophile’s dream. All I can say is, go. If you love to read, go. If you haven’t got much money to spend, go. The sale goes on until Sunday– last year, they even had a special deal “all you could carry” deal for a flat fee on the last day.

Will I bring a suitcase this year? I’m not ruling it out.

Thursday – 10am-9pm – no sales tax!
Friday – 10am-9pm – no sales tax!
Saturday – 10am-7pm
Sunday – 12 noon-6pm

Old Books, New Friends by Mandy B.

I am such a sucker for secondhand books, whether they are borrowed, bought, or found. I can browse shiny covers in a Barnes & Noble and never buy anything, but surround me with musty, eclectic used books, and I can’t leave the store without an armload.

Twice-loved books

There was a secondhand bookstore I loved in downtown Colorado Springs called Poor Richard’s that was connected to a café, pizzeria with an unmatched wine and tisane bar, and old-school toy store. I had several classes held there, and yes, it was the perfect recipe for never leaving the place without a new/old book in hand.

This weekend, the mother of all secondhand book sales is going on in Waco. It’s called Friends of the Waco-McLennan County Library Book Sale. Last year when my husband and I decided to stop by, we didn’t quite know what we were getting ourselves into. We entered a side building of the Extraco Events Center to what we considered a large room of book stands, about the size of a normal community bookstore, with sections set aside for specialty and children’s books. We spent about 10 minutes browsing before passing into THE room, a warehouse-like room about three times the size of the previous one filled from wall to wall with used library books and other donated treasures. Some attendees had showed up with suitcases to fill with books.

We left about two hours later with two large paper sacks. Our total? $19.

The book prices range from $1-$4 and are mainly arranged by genre. It truly is a bibliophile’s dream. All I can say is, go. If you love to read, go. If you haven’t got much money to spend, go. The sale goes on until Sunday– last year, they even had a special deal “all you could carry” deal for a flat fee on the last day.

Will I bring a suitcase this year? I’m not ruling it out.

Thursday – 10am-9pm – no sales tax!
Friday – 10am-9pm – no sales tax!
Saturday – 10am-7pm
Sunday – 12 noon-6pm

iBlog&Write by Mandy B.

Start thinking of your mobile device as one giant blinking cursor.

As a writer, my first medium of choice has always been pen and paper, especially for brainstorming. I love an especially inky pen and some kind of textured, thick paper that makes a faint scratching sound when I write. My next medium of choice is my MacBook Pro, wide and backlit and beautiful.

Unfortunately, my computer cord bit the dust about a week ago, and it will be at least another week before I can make it down to the Apple store in Austin to replace it. So, my blog post for today takes on organic form as I must find an alternative to pen and paper to deliver my media to the world wide web. Brace yourselves for typos and weird formatting– this blog post is all about, and all developed from, the iPhone.

I wanted to take a step back and look at apps and tools on smartphones that enable writers to do what they do best. Despite the growing tablet market, there is something about being able to hold your writing device in the palm of your hand that is alluring. The more portable, the better; it’s like the proverbial notepad by the side of a bed, on standby to record ideas at 3 a.m. or on the subway or on a picnic.

Phase 1: Inspiration
They say that to write well, you must read, read, read. Poetry magazine lovers, here’s no better media for this than the Poetry Foundation app. This app holds an archive of every poem its literary magazine Poetry has published since 1912, including T.S. Eliot’”s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”. Find poems by and bios of every major poet and some unknown ones, and try out the Foundation’s topical poetry spinner if you aren’t sure what you’re looking for. Aside from typical e-reader apps such as iBooks, one beautiful app for only $0.99 is 3D Classic Literature, a beautiful collection of classics in digital elegance.

Phase 2: Brainstorming
Shake for a writing prompt? Who knows what crazy word mashups could ensue (but let’s save that for another post). Check out the Writing Prompts app for some quirky ideas. If poetry or songwriting is your capacity, try RhymeNow Free Edition when you’re stuck on a line. The Dictionary.com app delivers the same practical reference as its namesake website, also with a complete thesaurus and no internet connection required.

Phase 3: Writing and Editing
Alas, the iPhone keyboard and screen are certainly not ideal for long-form writing. However, a good app and a little patience can go a long way. If it’s a novel or short story you’re writing, A Novel Idea is an interesting free app to test out. With it, you can map out your setting, theme, characters, and plot, scene by scene. iTalk Recorder can help the spoken word poet or traditional writer on a roadtrip record audio notes. Evernote is a great (also free) resource for writing, storing, and editing pieces of text. You can also attach an audio file, image, and tag a location with your writing, plus sync the iPhone account with your online account and Facebook and Twitter. If you are willing to fork out $4.99 for an app, Poet’s Pad makes a smooth one-stop-shop writing/brainstorming/editing software for a small device. Including writing prompts, form assistance, stanza reordering, and word association suggestions by emotion, this device is a fresh alternative to block text editing, allowing you to take it image by image, line
by
line.

No matter how you swing it, though, writing on a smartphone is slow and prone to glittery distractions such as texts, games, social media. This post, for instance, has taken me over a week to write. Help!

Phase 4: Publishing
Depending on your outlet of choice, bloggers are most likely to post via WordPress or Tumblr, both of which have functional albeit limited smartphone apps. My publishing app of the day will be WordPress. One unique multimedia story publisher is Blurb, an easy-to-use self-publishing software. Although designed for print (they make beautiful, reasonably-priced photo books including several I designed with our wedding pics), they have a micro-blog capacity online that can later be converted to a print capacity.

Final words of wisdom: Even the daintiest of hands and the wisest of writers can play a clumsy fool by late-night phonelight.

The Celebrity Poet by Mandy B.

The Celebrity Poet is an inside joke, an oxymoron. Ask a person on the street to name a living poet and they might be able to name Billy Collins or Mary Oliver. A more well-read individual might proffer Seamus Heaney, Rita Dove, Philip Levine, or Kay Ryan. But even a student of literature like myself can find herself quietly embarrassed to find that another Poet Laureate or major award winner has been named – whose name I have never heard.

On Thursday, the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Tomas Tranströmer, a Swedish poet whom I haven’t read. Some critics have decried the selection as Eurocentric over such alternatives as the Syrian poet Adonis, Japanese Haruki Marukami, or dark horse Bob Dylan. I’m not out to analyze the artistic or political biases of the Nobel committee—I’m sure it’s no picnic choosing between the world’s greatest contemporary literary minds.

In a writing career, rewards are few and far between.

I’m grateful to the for the chance most years to familiarize myself most years with a “new” writer, and for thrusting literature into the limelight for even a brief few days. Tranströmer is perhaps Scandanavia’s most famous poet, whose work is frequently translated into English by his American friend and poet Robert Bly. His work is known for a spiritual quality, bringing into words the moments and sentiments that most often go unspoken.

You can probably count in the single digits the number of poets whose book sales alone make enough to support them. The majority of us are bivocational copywriters, journalists, editors, critics, and professors, relying on fellowships and workshops and late nights to sustain from poem to poem.

As for Tranströmer, I hope the prize money and consequent book sales will enable him to produce even greater poems in the last years of his life, or to support and promote struggling artists who write, not for the love of fame or money, but for the love of the art.

“Alone” by Tomas Tranströmer

I

One evening in February I came near to dying here.
The car skidded sideways on the ice, out
on the wrong side of the road. The approaching cars –
their lights – closed in.

My name, my girls, my job
broke free and were left silently behind
further and further away. I was anonymous
like a boy in a playground surrounded by enemies.

The approaching traffic had huge lights.
They shone on me while I pulled at the wheel
in a transparent terror that floated like egg white.
The seconds grew – there was space in them –
they grew as big as hospital buildings.

You could almost pause
and breathe out for a while
before being crushed.

Then something caught: a helping grain of sand
or a wonderful gust of wind. The car broke free
and scuttled smartly right over the road.
A post shot up and cracked – a sharp clang – it
flew away in the darkness.

Then – stillness. I sat back in my seat-belt
and saw someone coming through the whirling snow
to see what had become of me.

II

I have been walking for a long time
on the frozen Östergötland fields.
I have not seen a single person.

In other parts of the world
there are people who are born, live and die
in a perpetual crowd.

To be always visible – to live
in a swarm of eyes –
a special expression must develop.
Face coated with clay.

The murmuring rises and falls
while they divide up among themselves
the sky, the shadows, the sand grains.

I must be alone
ten minutes in the morning
and ten minutes in the evening.
– Without a programme.

Everyone is queuing at everyone’s door.

Many.

One.

Happenstance at Common Grounds by Mandy B.

This evening I stumbled into a pleasantly unexpected musical encounter. I trekked, as planned, over to Common Grounds on 8th Street to support a friend, a sunshine-filled young musician from China Spring named Abby Baker. Unfortunately, I arrived in more-than-usual late fashion only to find that I had entirely missed Abby’s performance. Sighing and relegated to standing room only on the crowded stairs of Common Grounds, I waited for another friend to join me before getting coffee.

(By the way, please check out Abby’s lovely website and EP at www.abbybakermusic.com My Heart Is Yours by Abby Baker. Think lilting acoustic redolent of Colbie Caillat. Did I mention she’s only 17?)

The next act had taken the stage. Still standing and starting to sweat in the warm arena, I found my attention snared by the music, strong vocal harmonies and rhythm– all propelled by an acoustic guitar and one male, one female voices. The attractive twentysomething couple obviously enjoyed a deep intertwining of their musical and romantic lives, shyly bantering and even exchanging a kiss after he played a love song written just for her. The blues- and soul-infused melodies seemed larger and more powerful than a typical acoustic act– a heartful vocal blend right up my ally. I laughed as they asked us to buy their CDs, quipping that they were open to bartering, especially with starving artists to exchange merch for a drawing or whatever fans had on hand (even recounting how they had almost receive a Justin Beiber pillow as comp recently). Their lyrics followed the arc and troughs of love and of a spiritual journey.

But, for the longest time, I didn’t know their name.

After my friend arrived, the coffee was long forgotten as she was also enraptured. Finally came a name– Jenny & Tyler. Just Jenny & Tyler. Within 30 seconds we had Googled them, and I was downloading some free demo tracks.

Folk-pop duo Jenny & Tyler are from Delaware– the only state I could say with confidence that I had never met anyone from. Now Nashville residents, they took time out of a busy midwestern tour to play at Baylor as a favour for a family friend. They earned at least one fan in the process.

Check them out online and access two free demo albums on their website, with a total of 10 tracks.

P.S. Common Grounds has two more shows coming up that I am very excited about. Andy Davis, this Friday for $10, and Dave Barnes on Nov. 11 for $12-$15. Don’t miss out! And get there early so you can get a seat!

A Culture of Drought by Mandy B.

“The drought that grips Texas is a natural disaster in slow motion. Life itself slows down, falters and begins to fade.” – Richard Parker, The New York Times

That’s the thing about thirst, about drought. You don’t know how powerful it is until its cracks are deep and irreversible, its mouth parched, and its ribs protruding. Then, all at once, it hits you.

Central Texas has known drought, but not like this. It’s taken many punches, but this time it is dizzy on the floor, struggling to rise.

Will it ever be the same?

This land is its own, not quite South and not quite Southwest. As small talk falls to silence and prayers for rain are implied with merely a glance, do Texans have the language they need to bear testimony to their own narrative, to adapt to their new climatology? Can we learn to connect with the harsh land even as we curse it?

Let’s take a look at voices that have articulated and come to peace with a sublime landscape far wilder than themselves. Allow this prose to whet your tongue, even if just for a few minutes.

“The very floor of the world is cracked open into canyons and arroyos, fissures in the earth which are sometimes ten feet deep, sometimes a thousand… It was very different from a mountain fastness; more lonely, more stark and grim, more appealing to the imagination. The rock, when one came to think of it, was the utmost expression of human need; even mere feeling yearned for it; it was the highest comparison of loyalty in love and friendship.” – Willa Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop

“The gamma grass, dried out to a tawny brown, grew in little circular clumps under the brush, among the boulders and sand dunes. There was no other grass. The cattle, who went everywhere, ate what they could find but did not and could not depend on this sparse growth for life. They browsed on the tough shrubbery of the desert—the black-brush, chamisa, cliffrose, ephedra, greasewood and mesquite. In hard times, in desperate times, the cattle would even eat the prickly-pear cactus, sometimes helped by the rancher who went before them with a flame-thrower and burnt off the thorns. If this was not enough the rancher would have to buy feed. If he went broke buying feed he could then sell his stock and wait for the rain and a better year. If the rain delayed too long he sold his ranch or let the banks take it away. The smaller the ranch the greater the risk, and my Grandfather Vogelin was one of the few independent ranchers who somehow had survived the wheel of drought and depression. He seldom broke even but he didn’t break.” – Edward Abbey, Fire on the Mountain

“This country is—almost sublime. Space and grandeur, a spacious grandeur that’s overwhelming. And yet—it isn’t quite human, is it? By that I mean it’s not really meat for human beings to live in.” – Edward Abbey, Fire on the Mountain

“Late, I have come to a parched land

doubting my gift, if gift I have,

the inspiration of water

spilt, swallowed in the sand.

To hear once more water trickle,

to stand in a stretch of silence

the divining pen twisting in the hand:

sign of depths alluvial.

…

Rivulets vanished in the dust

long ago, great compositions

vaporized, salt on the tongue so thick

that drinking, still I thirst.

Repeated desert, recurring drought,

sometimes hearing water trickle,

sometimes not, I, by doubting first,

believe; believing, doubt.”

– Dannie Abse, “The Water Diviner.”

How have you noticed the drought change Texas? What language have you noticed being used to describe it?